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Karl Marx and his theory of capitalist society
Economic and political philosophy of Karl Marx
Karl Marx and his theory of capitalist society
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Since his publication of many if his manuscripts in the 1800’s, there has been speculation and dialogue surrounding whether Karl Marx is a determinist or a free will theorist. Though both discourses make prominently valid points and observations, the works of Karl Marx stand alone as free will theories.
Many scholars and other observers who claim and state that Marxism is deterministic often refer greatly to Marx’s words on the economy and its surrounding realm. “Determinist Marxism takes the economy to be the element within society that is responsible for the way society is organized, and that the distribution of ownership over the economy influences how change occurs over time in a given society. This above all is what defines a model of Marxism as being determinist: the idea that all social change and the structure of any society is caused or determined by the distribution of the economy.” (Taylor)
Under this course of dialogue, Marx’s work is seen as speculations and possible reasons for certain patterns seen over history, but it concretes the idea of these patterns in such a way that they are finite and do not lend themselves to change or modification.
Conversely, an oppositely minded discourse claims and concludes that Marx is a free will theorist, thus not relying on the apparent façade of permanence of historical patterns that determinists consume as ever-present and permanent.
Such observers and scholars believe that much of the reasons that others believe Marx is a determinist is because the passages or pieces of evidence they find in Marx’s are taken out of context, and they take on a different meaning, deviating from the original purpose and idea that Marx was conveying.
An example of this can be found in Ma...
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...an agency and free will and thought, which are not taken account for in determinist schools of thought. However, Marx does acknowledge the fact that there are patterns and tendency that may surface, but he also acknowledges and demonstrates that these are not always guaranteed to keep happening. If that was so, then the history of the world would be decided very early on, at its creation, and never change, which is clearly not the case.
Works Cited
Gasper, Phil. "Is Marxism Deterministic?" International Socialist Review 58 (2008). International Socialist Review. Web. 8 Nov. 2011. .
Taylor, Christopher L. "The Balancing Act: Economic Determinism and Humanism in Marxism." Thesis. University of Waterloo, 2007. Print.
Marx, Karl, and David McLellan. Karl Marx: Selected Writings. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000. Print.
Jain, Ajit, and Alexander Matejko, eds. A Critique of Marxist and Non-Marxist Thought. New York: Praeger, 1986.
We know that the economic evolution of the contemporary world refutes a certain number of the postulates of Marx. If the revolution is to occur at the end of two parallel movements, the unlimited shrinking of capital and the unlimited expansion of the proletariat, it will not occur or ought not to have occurred. Capital and proletariat have both been equally unfaithful to Marx. - Albert Camus, 1953
Temkin, G. (1998). Karl Marx and the economics of communism: Anniversary recollections. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 31(4), 303–328. doi:10.1016/S0967-067X(98)00014-2
Works Cited Page Marx, Karl. “The Communist Manifesto.” A World of Ideas. Ed. Lee Jacobus. Boston: Bedford Books, 1998. 209-32.
Marx was born in 1818, in the then kingdom of Prussia. As a young man, he became exceedingly interested in the philosophy of Hegel. However what struck him and went on to define his work was Feuerbach’s polemic against religion. Feuerbach had said that humans needed the concept of God to satisfy an emotional need and God did not exist outside of the human mind for this very purpose. Marx applied the property of looking beyond what things seemed to be, to all spheres of life. Over the years, the essence of Marx’s work was to reveal and analyse how capitalism concealed exploitation of the proletariat and a political democracy concentrated power in the hands of a few, and not the masses.
The society in the time of Marx’s writing dealt with many past events in which their faith and social standing was questioned. The latter part of the Scientific Revolution, around the middle of the seventeenth century, greatly influenced a change in faith with the public as a whole due to the new developments brought about by scientists. Up to that point, the Church, which controlled the thought process of Europe throughout most of the previous centuries, had not ever really been challenged in terms of the theories taught. The Church said that Earth was the center of the universe, whereas philosophers, such as Copernicus and Galileo, proved oth...
During the nineteenth century, Karl Marx and Max Weber were two of the most influential sociologists. Both of them tried to explain social change taking place in a society at that time. On the one hand, their views are very different, but on the other hand, they had many similarities.
Analysis of the Main Strengths and Weaknesses of Marx’s Sociological Thought “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” Marx and Engels (1967, p.67) Born in 1818, Karl Marx, using his philosophical and socialist ideas, attempted to show how conflict and struggle in social development were important in the development of a society. The works of Marx were influenced by three distinct intellectual traditions: German idealist philosophy, French socialism and British political economy. German idealist philosophy is an approach based on the thesis that only the mind and its content really exist. This philosophy maintains that it is through the advance of human reason that human beings progress. French socialism is a political doctrine that emerged during the French Revolution and emphasised social progress led by a new industrial class.
Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels, and Robert C. Tucker. The Marx-Engels reader . 2d ed. New York: Norton, 1978. Print.
Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. Trans. Paul M. Sweeny. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1998.
Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels, and Robert C. Tucker. The Marx-Engels reader. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1978. Print.
118). However, Marx’s communistic theories were influenced by different people and their ideas. Marx’s doctrine was made up of three points that were impacted by the people that helped develop the communistic doctrine through their theories and philosophies. Marxism is based on the three principles of atheism, materialism, and economic determinism; for example, Charles Darwin’s idea that only the fittest survive supported Marx’s theory on class struggles. (“Constitutional Government and Free Enterprise: A Biblical Christian Worldview Approach and Emphasis,” 2014, p. 117). Consequently, this explains why Marx believed bloody revolutions were necessary because force was needed for a progressive society to occur. G.W.F. Hegel, who created Dialecticism, helped this idea form as well. This movement influenced Marx’s idea of a violent political revolution through a synthetically process of logic, which encouraged an eventual progressive movement that would lead to a revolution (“Constitutional
I, thankfully, am not one of those people. That is why in this paper I will argue that free will co-exists with determinism and is not completely eliminated by it. I will first examine the viewpoints of several prominent philosophers and their stance on free will and determinism. I will then move into my view on free will and the definition that I assign the word. Lastly, I will argue against the opponents of my viewpoint.
Karl Marx had very strong viewpoints in regards to capitalism, making him a great candidate for this assignment. People constantly debate over whether his ideologies held any grain of truth to them. I believe that although not everything Marx predicted in his writings has come true (yet), he was definitely right on about a lot of issues. As a matter of fact, his teachings can definitely be applied to today’s society. This paper will give a summary of Marx’s political philosophy. It will also discuss a contemporary issue: the current economic crisis— and how Marx believed racism played a crucial a role in it. Finally, through the lens he has developed, I will explain how Marx would analyze this issue and how one can argue that it spurred the current movement known as Occupy Wall Street.
Marx based many of his theories based of his own life experience and views of politics. He was a very radical thinker and believed that the economy and political systems were so wrong and far gone that they could not be internally fixed or rejuvenated. Marx has strong critiques of capitalism and the bases of this opposition was that capitalism would quickly exceed its maximum usefulness and need to be replaced in order to uphold the necessary level of production. The main reason he predicted the downfall of capitalism is alienation and separation and will be a direct result to the uprising of